ORSP: Los Angeles Angels… of Anaheim

And now for the most ridiculously named team: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Do they still have to throw the “of Anaheim” in there? I don’t care. Even if they move to Portland, I’m still going to throw it on there. “The Portland Angels of Anaheim” – has a nice ring, don’t you think?

Offseason Review: Not good. I want to point out that one of the guys on the “Biggest Additions” list just broke his big toe while playing with his children, sooooo…. we can ignore the Downs signing for now. Wells is an odd addition as… well. They are going to pay him $86 million over the next 4 years. It’s not that Wells isn’t capable of living up to that contract, but, really, why would you trade for a contract of that size when you could have thrown that kind of money at Carl Crawford instead? The biggest boost the Angels are going to get this year is the return of Kendrys (that’s right, apparently there’s an “s” at the end of his first name) Morales. The rotation – Haren, Weaver, Santana and Pineiro – is still a strength, so there was no need to tweak with that this offseason.

Season Preview: I think the biggest challenge the Angels are going to have is twofold and related. 1) Who is going to be on base? and 2) Who is going to drive in runs? I don’t see a dangerous lineup. Again, Morales’ return is going to be a boost, but this is a team that is going to have to play a lot of small ball, and I don’t think that’s going to work in a division featuring the Texas Rangers.